Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-05-25
FIRST WORKING OF COTTON.

HulQ cOtCOn De plOWeu UeIoTe IL Is Ioeu !
AS the blowing is usually done, we say,
no; let the hoes precede the pillow. Siding
the cotton with any pillow which throws
dirt towards the cotton only gives the hoes
the labor of pulling that dirt away. If
the dirt has covered up grass along the
line of the drill, the hoes usually follow so
close behind the plows as to uncover it
again. If the cotton is sided by a turn
pillow with bar next to cotton, or with a
scooter, the plants are left OF a narrow
ridge, and the hoes generally cut this down
so much that quite a large per centage of
the plants fall down. Very little dirt
should be moved at the first hoeing-it
should, in fact, he only a scraping-shaving
the surface enough to kill young grass, but
removing little or no dirt from the cotton
which is left. Shaving off the young grass
and thinning the cotton is all that should
be aimed at. Such hoeing has to be de-
ferred, of course, until the cotton is we'll
up, bu: this is too late to begin. We pre-
fer to start plows by the time he cotton
begins to show along the row, before it is
up to a stand. The sweep or heel scrape
is the proper implement for this work.
Set it to run very shallow; let the wings
run absolutely flat, so as to throw no dirt.
Side the cotton very closely, letting the
lurION dlIlIOSU lilSSg oStl ZIG NbuliS
plants. The latter will not be appreciably
affected, but the crust will he broken and
the young grass mixed up with the cotton
will be killed. The getting rid of this
crop of grass, which m up with the
cotton and makes so much hoeing nrcessa-
ry, is the main thing to be kept in view.
If killed with plow or harrow it must be
done lust before or just after the cotton
comes up. Defer it for one week, and the
hoe will have to do the work.
AS soon as the cotton is we'll up, chop
out and bring to a pretty close stand.
Cotton sometimes dies out badly when
young. This it is the more apt to do when
crowded. Each stalk is a foe to its neigh
boris constantly robbing it of food and
water. Remove superfiuous stalks, there
fore, as o as possible. Under the usual
practice of leaving hills the width of the
hoe apart, every other hill might die with
out serious injury, ifthe land is good. AS
a rule, we think that cotton is too much
crowded. Four feet row and plants a foot
and a half apart in drills, is about the
right distance on good, medium lands.
Why eXpend so much of the strength of
the soil in producing cotton stalks?-ET.
ONIONS FOR NERVOUS PROSTRATION.-
Those who are IN the haOlC OF lnuulglng IN
raw onions may be consoled for the mature
and a%blebodied odor which wraps them as
a veil, and causes men, women and chill
dren to flee from their malodorous vicinity,
by the fact that onions are the best nervine
known. No medicine is really SO efica-
cious in cases of nervous prostration, and
they tone up a worn out system in a very
short time. Their absorbent powers are
olco ,noct voluahla aSnpciaIlv in time of
epidemic. 1t has repeatedly been observ-
ed that an onion patch in the immediate
vicinity of a house acts as a shield against
the pestiience, which is very apt to pass
over the inmates of that house. Sliced
onions in a sick room absorb all the germs
and prevent contagion. During an cpl
demic the confirmed onion eater should,
however, eschew his usual diet, as the
germs of disease are present in the onions
and contagion can easily result.